Forests for Public Health—Selected Papers from the 3rd World Conference on Forests for Public Health

Dear Colleagues,

Today, urbanization and modern lifestyles such as sedentary lives, increasing levels of mental stress related to urban living and contemporary work practices, low physical activity, noise, heat stress, and air pollution have created public health problems and resulted in a growing prevalence of cardiovascular disease, stress, depression, psychological diseases, and immune disruption, among others. These factors contribute not only to the aforementioned public health problems, but also lead to increased expenditures for health care systems and create social problems.

An accumulating multidisciplinary global body of evidence has documented the strong potential of natural environments including trees, forests, urban and peri-urban forests, parks, gardens and other green spaces to promote and enhance the mental and physical health as well as well-being of the population, and to ameliorate the problematic trends discussed above. Contact with Nature improves psychological health by reducing pre-existing stress levels, enhancing mood, enabling the recovery of cognitive abilities like directed attention, and supporting restorative processes. Urban and ex-urban forests and green spaces may provide walkways and spaces for Nature-based activities that may have not only preventive effects on lifestyle-related diseases but also enhance people’s health in general. Activities in Nature and green spaces are related to reduced physiological stress (heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, stress hormones, depression, anxiety etc.) and improved physiological functions (e.g., NK cells activity, immune system, cardiovascular etc.). Urban forests and green spaces may absorb a part of urban air pollution, decrease heat and noise levels, and thus contribute to improving public health.

In summary, forests, urban forests and other green spaces may be incorporated into public health systems and policies to promote mental and physical health, and to reduce morbidity and mortality in residents by supporting relaxation and stress alleviation, stimulating social cohesion, encouraging physical activity, and reducing exposure to air pollutants, noise and excessive heat.

Given the multidimensional interactions and relationships between forests and green spaces with human health and the cross-disciplinary nature of this relation, an interdisciplinary scientific approach is required.

An integral part of such efforts is the multidisciplinary World Conference on Forests for Public Health, organized biannually as part of our efforts to globally promote and encourage knowledge sharing on the latest research trends.

The 3rd World Conference on Forests for Public Health (https://fphcongress.org/), 4–7 October 2023, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, will mark the dawn of its new global era to find sustainable future directions for the multidisciplinary field of forests, green spaces, and human health.

The global message of this Conference is that forests, city forests, parks and other green spaces should be incorporated to international organizations’ policies and goals, and to national public health systems, policies, and practices for a healthy and sustainable society.

We have the privilege of inviting scientists from all over the world to participate and attend the conference and present their research results and knowledge in this new multidisciplinary area. The main topics of the 3rd World Conference on Forests for Public Health are as follows:

1. Environmental health epidemiology, forest medicine and physiological assessments, global health issues of public health and green spaces.

2. Mental health benefits of exposure to Nature and green spaces.

3. Planning physical activities and access for human forest recreation and tourism in forest/natural environment for public health.

4. Urban forests and their ecosystem services for public health (heat, air pollution, noise, etc., including natural immunity).

5. Urban forestry and green spaces planning and design for human health activities, availability, and accessibility.

6. Forest therapy, green care, public health policies and economics, social cohesion, and social-economic aspects of forests for public health.

Dr. Christos Gallis
Prof. Dr. Dominique Dorion
Guest Editors

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